Nunavut's Chief Medical Officer of Health says the flu has arrived in the territory, and is urging people to get the flu shot if they haven’t already.

Dr. Maureen Baikie said there have been 10 lab-confirmed cases of influenza in the Baffin and Kitikmeot regions. So far, there are no confirmed cases in the Kivalliq.

Dr. Baikie said lab-confirmed cases mean someone has sought medical help and was tested.

“It shows us that it's here and it's circulating, but it doesn't really give us a sense of how widespread it is or how many people are sick, because not everyone gets a test, nor does everyone need to be tested for influenza,” she said.

Dr. Maureen Baikie, Nunavut's Chief Medical Officer of Health, is telling people to get the flu shot. She is also advising that those who are sick should stay home to prevent the flu from spreading. (CBC)

Baikie said that it’s not too late to get the flu shot. She added that if residents are sick, they should stay home to stop the flu from spreading.

‘Tough season’ for flu

Many provinces and territories are seeing higher numbers of infected people this year.

“They're calling this influenza season a tough season. We had mild influenza both last year and the year before so I think that's why people are really noticing this year,” said Baikie.

In Yukon, the territory is trying to counter an early flu season with extra vaccination clinics.

About 400 people in Whitehorse got the flu shot last week. Pat Living, from the Yukon Health Department, said that’s higher than average, and the reason those extra clinics are needed.

“We've added those in because people are quite concerned this year about getting protected against the flu, getting the vaccine. This year's vaccine is a very good match for the flu that's circulating, so folks getting the vaccine have a better chance of being protected against it,” said Living.

Living added that they have had an early flu season.

“Looking at last year's records, we didn't see our first lab-confirmed flu until late February, early March. This year we were seeing flu, lab-confirmed, as early as December so we know that there's a lot out there and it's also being joined by a lot of gastrointestinal illness and a lot of influenza-like illnesses.”

The Yukon health department extended last week's Monday-to-Thursday flu vaccination clinic to include Friday. It's doing the same this week.